


Natsu, the Dragon Slayer

by natsubeatsrock



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: "You Hurt My Crush's Dad So I Have To Kill You", Debut Story!, F/M, It's Only Kind Of Romantic, It's more like, Semi-Medieval AU but not really, among other things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-28 10:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17785793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/natsubeatsrock/pseuds/natsubeatsrock
Summary: No one believed Natsu when he told them that dragons existed. Now, he has to protect his village from a strange black dragon that attacked injured their best fighter. Submission for Tumblr's Fairy Tail Big Bang 2019.





	Natsu, the Dragon Slayer

As I stood sword in hand, ready to face the dragon in front of me, I had to take a moment to evaluate the weird mix of emotions in my stomach.

Vindication was the first one I could recognize. ‘Maybe, now I could make earn that stupid nickname,’ I thought to myself.

“Natsu, the Dragon Slayer” they called me. I know what you’re thinking, and the answer is no. It wasn’t because I had killed any dragons. Not yet, at least. Rather, I was the only one in my village who believed they existed.

When I was young, I lost my family to them. My parents and older brother were killed when a dragon attacked our house. I don’t know how or why I even survived, but I did. I almost can’t believe that I made it all.

I remembered my parents tell stories about how they met in a town called Magnolia before they moved to the cottage we lived in. I decided to go there. The journey was relentless, but I made it alive. I lived in a small old house just outside of the town.

When I started telling my story to people, no one would believe me. For years, I endured the insults of other boys and girls my age. Parents would guide their young children away from me when I would walk by them. I couldn’t go anywhere without someone calling me, by that name.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true.

Love. Of all things, that was the second thing. No matter how much I racked my brain to think of how else I could describe the warmth I would often feel, that was the only word I could use to describe how it felt thinking about her.

Cana Alberona. If I could say that I had one friend, it would have to be her. No matter how crazy other people would say I was to think that dragons existed, she would always listen to me. No matter how painful the bullying would get, she would stand by my side and defend me.

Somehow or other, the rumor got started that the only reason she stood up for me was that she was too drunk to know better. To be honest, it wasn’t as if there was no truth behind it. She did drink more than probably should be allowed for anyone. I could never quite understand how she held alcohol down better than men twice our age.

I got worried about it once and asked her about it. She told me not to worry about it for two reasons. First, if the alcohol was enough to keep her believing Natsu, she wouldn’t have been able to do much else. The second reason, though, left more of an impact. “I don’t think it’s that weird to think there may be things we don’t absolutely know to be true”, she commented.

She always told me, “You’re always welcome at my house.” I always took her up on the offer. We would spend hours talking about what I learned about dragons or whatever else happened on that day. And I figured that I would be able to do so for as long as I possibly could until…

Disappointment. That was what I sorted out next.

Maybe that’s how she felt too after it got her dad.

Gildarts is his name. He was known as the champion of the town. He would go on missions for months or even years on end.

He was also Cana’s father. They didn’t have the best of relationships. He apparently didn’t know she was his daughter until a few months ago, not that the rest of us weren’t shocked to find out. Combine that with the fact that he was more away than home and she wasn’t ever excited by the prospect of having a doting father.  
Even still, family is still family. He loved her more than she would want at times. She loved him more than she would ever tell him. It only made sense she was still devastated to see what he was like.

On his most recent mission, he met something. It was bigger and stronger than anything he ever faced and he wasn’t prepared. It got his left arm, left leg, and even some of his organs. It’s a miracle he was even alive. Somehow, he managed to lose it and was picked up by a band of traveling merchants. She found him outside the city and brought him inside their house.

It was a dragon.

I never doubted myself to be right about these things. I had sunk myself too far down the rabbit hole of so-called mythological research to question if dragons were real creatures and not just one of the many things mothers and fathers read about to their children in stories. I always knew they had to be out there somewhere. I knew that if I looked hard enough, maybe one day I would be able to find one.

But I never wanted this to be the way that I was to be proven right. Of all the ways that my village could have found out about dragons, this had to have been the worst. I never wanted dragons to ever hurt anyone I knew, let alone her father. I’d rather have been proven wrong one thousand times over on the existence of dragons and learn I imagined the horrors I went through as a child than learn that anyone ever would experience anything similar.

Even so…

I guess the next feeling I had ought to be gratefulness. I’m not sure what you else can call having planned for an impending dragon attack. I had been training my body so that if the day came I would be ready. I tried to find different plant mixtures that could weaken dragons. Two years ago, I found an old sword and gave it special enchants that would supposedly help in a fight against them. At the time I figured that, if past experience was anything to go by, I might not meet a dragon who liked humans. I nagged our poor town’s blacksmith for months to make me a matching set of armor. After a series of excuses, he finally gave in and I enchanted the set as well.

I even planned for escape routes to the village to a safe place. The townspeople were supposed to make the trek from Magnolia to a nearby village along the sea called Hargeon. It was a large enough city for our town to find temporary shelter.

However, I wouldn’t have expected this to be possible in the eyes of the rest of the town. Normally, this would have been insane to them. They’d have no reason to believe this wasn’t an elaborate prank I was pulling on them. However, they trusted Gildarts, Gildarts trusted Cana, and Cana seemed to trust me. That was enough to get everyone to do what they needed to survive.

The last and most rational one of all was fear.

After all, in case you forgot, I was mere moments away from taking on a dragon head on. Sure, I had read a lot about them, I devised a plan to potentially beat them. However, I’d hardly call my last encounter with a dragon a battle. This dragon was strong enough to maim our town’s greatest adventurer’s. I had no reason to believe that, despite all my plans and preparation, the impending fight would end in my death.

Then again, this wouldn’t have been the first time I thought this would be my last day. The feeling first came as I saw my family’s last moments. It came every day I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it to a city. It came on days when the insults and abuse got more physical and hostile than derisive nicknames.

It came just the day before when Cana and Gildarts were wishing me farewell. The last of the townspeople were on their way out and they decided to take up the rear. As I turned to go to the village, she grabbed my arm. I turned towards her and saw the anguish in her face. She knew that I planned to wait for the beast and kill it. She asked me, “What if you don’t survive?”

This was the last thing I wanted to hear. Even the potential idea of failure wasn’t something I was wanted to consider at this time. Even so, I felt she deserved a response. So, I embraced her tightly as I replied. “Pray for both our sakes that we don’t have to come up with an answer.”

As I parted and ran back towards the city, I could almost swear I heard her pray, “Don’t lose, Natsu”. The thought that she cared for me enough to help make all this possible warmed my heart. “Thank you, Cana,” I thought to myself. “I won’t lose.”

I kept that thought close to me as I stood and waited for the dragon to come to the town. I knew he would follow Gildarts’ scent. While he managed to throw it off in the mountains, he knew it wouldn’t be long before it came back for him. I made sure to spread his scent around the town and mask his own to bait the beast to the town. All I needed to do was wait for it to come.

And come it did.

I knew about what I was supposed to expect. I knew that it would be larger than any creature I had ever seen, with razor sharp teeth and thick scales. However, the thing was a sight to behold. The black scales which covered it were darker than even the night sky, with swirls of blue surrounding it. Through its red eyes, I could feel its passion and anger.

Then I looked at its claws. They should have been as black as the rest of his body. But they were clearly stained with blood. Whether it the blood of enemies fought throughout the ages it had seen or those recent souls who tried and failed to challenge it, I could not know. As I looked, my mind couldn’t help but entertain the thought that my blood would be next. The thought made my hand start to quiver.

Yet, as I stood sword in hand, ready to face the dragon in front of me, none of the emotions mattered. Not the vindication, not the disappointment, not the gratefulness, and especially not the fear. I knew that only one of us was going to survive the upcoming battle. The only thing that mattered is that I made sure I was the survivor.  
“I can’t lose,” I whispered to myself, trying to steady my blade. “I won’t lose.”

“Black dragon!”, I yelled at the beast, to get its attention. As it slowly turned its gaze towards me, I couldn’t help but flinch. “My name is Natsu,” I started to say, locking eyes with it. With renewed strength, I continued, “My name is Natsu! The Dragon Slayer! And you’ve lived your last day.”

At first, it felt as though I could hear the dragon laughing. I could see its mouth opening and closing as if it was laughing and I heard what sounded like a voice deeper than any I had ever heard a chuckle. Though I figured it to be my imagination getting the better of me.

“Hear me, ‘dragon slayer’,” it roared back to me, in a condescending tone. I read that it was possible for dragons to talk but never imagined one speaking back to me. “For hundreds of years, I have roamed the face of this earth. I have met more men, beasts, and dragons than you will ever in your life. And I have never once spared a thought about the lives of those who have dared stand in my way and paid the price. If you wish to join in their fate,” he challenged me stretching his ancient wings, “it will be your last mistake!”

I figured as much. There was no chance that anything I could say would have changed its mind. But even this did little to change my mind. I knew what I had to do.

Without warning, the beast charged at me. I started to walk steadily towards it. As I slowly started to pick up speed, I grabbed onto a pouch tied to the right side of my waist. As I held it in my hand, I started to move even faster towards the dragon. I was looking for just the right opportunity to use it.

The black monster opened its mouth, baring its teeth as if ready to swallow me whole. That was his mistake. When I saw that its mouth had finally opened, I threw the pouch with all my strength at the ground in front of it. It hit the ground, leaving a cloud of red and orange dust in front of the beast. It recognized the danger, but it was too late.

The dust was part of a mixture I learned to make in my studies of dragons. Of course, this would be my first time using it. However, it was supposed to be able to irritate the senses of the dragon. By the looks of its apprehension to the mixture, it seemed to have been a success. The dragon closed its eyes and thrashed about. This is what I planned on.

According to the instructions, I would only have a short window of time to make my next move. The beast tried to lift itself off the ground. As it swung its tail towards me, I leaped and grabbed onto it. I held onto the tail as it thrashed about, sensing I was on it. I slowly and carefully made my way up its tail, in order to get to its torso.

I had one of two options, both of which depended on how much more time I would have before the beast came to. The first option would be to attempt to take out either one of its wings. I could either use my special blade to rip the wings apart or break apart any of the joints. If I did that, it would be easier to take it out, but I would also have to contend with the chance of taking myself out along with it.

The second option would be to continue further along the dragon’s body and look for any openings. Scars and wounds from previous battles, special cavities for air, whatever. I would look for anything I could easily use to wound the dragon quicker. It would take more time and was a much riskier gamble, but it could result in a quicker end to the battle in my favor.

I methodically made my way up the spine of the black beast, trying to keep in mind the slower, less frantic movements of the beast. I knew that my time was running thin. It was only a matter of time before the mixture would lose its effect on it. I quickly shifted gears and grabbed onto the top of the dragon’s right wing.  
  
As I moved along it, I couldn’t help but marvel at the style of the wing. Most other wings I had known seemed to connect altogether at the top of the wing. In the case of the beast I was on, its scales seemed to be layered on top of each other. How it managed to fly with this structure astounded me. Of course, such thoughts did not matter as-

“Very clever, tiny warrior,” the ancient dragon playfully roared. I had run out of time. Even with this recognition, I decided to still work towards my goal. “It seems I may have misjudged you. It has been quite some time since one has come against me with this mixture. Dragon dust, I remember you humans calling? For one known as ‘the Dragon Slayer’, you seem to be quite knowledgeable.”

“Well, I’m glad to find out,” I responded as I reached for my blade, “that I’m not like those you’ve fought before.” With that, I drove the blade into the top wing, hoping to get a rise out of the beast. While its anguished roars indicated that I achieved my intended reaction, I hoped to use this occasion to tear away at more of the wing. “Let’s see how much more different I can prove myself to be,” I taunted as I feverishly sawed at the wounded wing with my sword.

“Make no mistake, so-called dragon slayer,” the dragon hissed out in pain. “Though you may not have fought as others, you will meet the same fate as all who face me.” The beast soared higher into the air before making its descent towards the ground. It made sure to keep its wings extended as it hurled itself at the ground.

“So that’s your aim,” I thought, as I strained to hold onto the dragon’s wing. Judging from its current course, I assumed that its plan was to try to get me to let go of its wing. Moving against the air current, I slowly sheathed my blade and made the move towards the inside of its wing. As I made my move, the dragon changed its course to fly upward. Immediately, I realized my mistake.

In my calculation, I forgot to account for the beast’s arms, which were now reaching for me. I narrowly managed to avoid its first attempt to reach for me by jumping back towards the top of its wing. I reached back towards my waist, once again grabbing my sword with my right hand. It reached for me again. This time, I couldn’t avoid its grasp.  
The dragon pulled me close to its face as it made its descent. “Impressive, so-called dragon slayer.” I tried to break free, but I couldn’t escape the tight grip of its claws. “While I cannot tell whether or not you have slain any dragons, I cannot help but feel as though you seem… familiar.”

The monster was toying with me. It raised me towards its snout and sniffed at me. As it did so, it loosened its grip on me just enough. I used could my free hand to grab a pouch from my side and moved it close just before it tightened its grip again. I would have to wait for my opening before I could-

“Ah, yes,” the dragon mused. “I remember.” I tried to hold myself back, knowing it was trying to goad me into a response. “I would never think that I would have met a survivor.”

I could already tell where this conversation. I tried my best to keep my anger in check at the beast continued. “Not many years ago, one such as you dared to cross my path. I defeated him, of course. Though, I decided to make an example of him to those close by that no one ever ought to face me with the hope of survival.”

“Your name.”

“What, did you say?”

It took all the self-control I could muster to respond to the beast a second time. “I never asked you for your name. I did tell you mine, after all.”

At this, the beast laughed maniacally. “Very well, then. My name is Acnologia,” he answered, preparing to eat me. “Let it be the last thing you remember, so-called dragon slayer!”

“I don’t know about that,” I responded. As it taunted me, I managed to move my arm through the beast’s fingers and, with all my might, threw the pouch into its mouth.

I had prepared two pouches of the special dragon dust. And as the beast-

No.

As Acnologia choked on the contents of this second package, its grip on me all but faded. I broke free from its grip and started to run along the falling beast’s arm. I made its way back to the wing I previously injured as it crashed to the ground and was knocked off. It reached its arms towards its neck, roaring out and writhing in pain.  
I managed to catch myself as I fell to the ground. I was about to land head first, but I maneuvered myself to roll onto the ground without injuring myself. I looked at the beast.

Acnologia.

The name of the monster who had slain countless.

The name of the monster who maimed Gildarts, Cana’s father.

The name of the monster who separated me from its family.

While it directly ingested the harmful mixture, I knew that this chance too would not last forever. I needed to end the battle soon. I scanned its neck for any opening, old or new. It didn’t take long to find what I needed. There were a set of flaps on its neck, close to its head, that seemed to be forced open. Normally, they may have served as an air passage of sorts.

I started to climb back up the neck of the scaly beast as it continued to squirm in pain. There was no doubt in my mind it could sense what I was trying to do, but it was in too much pain to stop me as I clung to its neck and ran towards ran towards its head. When I finally reached my target, I lifted my sword. I couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment. ‘It all ends now. Acnologia!’

With renewed strength, I plunged my sword as deep as it would go into the beast’s neck. It howled in pain at the feel of the blade, but I was not done. I moved the blade along the hole in its neck to make sure the monster would bleed to death. As I got to the edge of the neck, I decided to jump down, holding onto the sword still inside of the dragon. In doing so, I managed to open the wound across the side of its neck.

This time, however, I did not pay attention to my descent and stumbled on to the ground. I tumbled not too far away from the dragon, but I could feel its blood pooling near me. I tried to get up, but it appeared that the fight against Acnologia had drained me of my energy. I was about to pass out as I could hear the dying groans of the beast. “Dragon… slayer…”, I heard it say as I closed my eyes.

...

“Natsu! Natsu, wake up!”

I slowly opened my eyes to the sound of my name being called. I could only assume that I was in a part of Hargeon. However, I did recognize the voice calling me.

“Cana…”, I replied. As I looked at the crying brunette, I couldn’t help but remember the feeling I had felt many times before being with her before the battle. ‘Love.’ A feeling only slightly stronger than the aching pain that ravaged my body as I tried to move up. “How long have I-”

“At least two days. Some of us came back to the town to see what happened. We saw what you did to the dragon, and...” She couldn’t help but pause before finishing her thought. “They all thought you wouldn’t make it out alive. After all, if Gildarts couldn’t do it, you didn’t stand much of a chance.”

“And you?”, I asked, trying to put my body in an upright position.

Her teary eyes met mine as she responded. “I don’t think it’s that weird to think there may be things we don’t absolutely know to be true.” With that, she rushed towards me to embrace me.

Her response left me with tears in my own eyes as I hugged her back. I never would have believed that I would be able to face the same kind of monster that destroyed the world I knew as a child and ravaged her father’s body. Nor did I think they were one and the same

And yet I did it. Natsu, the Dragon Slayer.

**Author's Note:**

> So, that was a fun story to debut with! 
> 
> I got the idea for this story from this Writing Prompt: People think you’re crazy when you talk about mythology because you talk as if everything is real. One day, a cyclops attacks your city, and everyone turns to you to protect them. I decided to change "a cyclops" to a dragon and tell this as a story from Natsu's perspective. From there, the idea for the story was set. About a month later, I heard about the Big Bang and the rest is history!
> 
> Despite writing about this series for years, I haven't really written fiction with the intent for people to see it for about 7 years when I wrote a short story for a competition. I've written some other stuff, but it's been more for class assignments. I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> Special thanks to icemakestars, my art matchup who is also writing for this event.


End file.
